At the risk of sounding like a crazy Lego lady, here is another Lego-related post which will appeal to those people that love to organise.

Since the Lego revolution took off at our place we’ve been keeping all our Lego in one big ol’ plastic tub. This was causing my husband and son no end of frustration as it would take them forever to find an elusive piece lurking in the nook of another piece. I googled Lego storage and was amazed by the number of people who were obsessed with finding the perfect sorting and storage system. I was most inspired by Jen over at I Heart Organising. She uses the Ikea Trofast system for sorting and storing their Lego pieces. I decided to use the Trofast storage system, but with different labels aimed at a younger child. I wanted visual, easily-identifiable labels so that my 3-yeard old could be responsible for sorting and packing away his own Lego.

3. Source Lego logo + label imagery and insert onto an A4 sheet for colour printing (or use Lego Organisation Labels). I sized and cropped my Lego logos to approx 9 x 5cms and the drawer panels to approx 10 x 6cms. You will also need a separate written label for the Instructions drawer.

4. Using a cutting board and ruler, cut the logos, colour paint chips and imagery to size.

5. For the drawer with the Orange / Beige / Maroon / Brown pieces I cut colour paint chips to size and then divided them into four and stuck a piece from each colour together with tape before placing onto contact paper.

6. Cut pieces of contact paper into rectangular panels slighter larger in size to the colour panel. My contact panels were approximately half a centimetre larger than the colour panel around the diameter.

Like this:

When Lego announced its controversial Friends range earlier this year, this 1970s Lego advertisement went viral. It featured a young girl in jeans and a blue t-shirt proudly displaying her free-form lego construction. Who knew girls could play with blocks that weren’t pink?!

With all the Lego activity that’s been happening in our home, we stumbled upon this extraordinary website for spare parts called Brick Link. It’s an unofficial Lego marketplace, or as I like to think of it…eBay for Lego. On this website you can purchase just about anything relating to Lego including rare missing parts and old Lego kits from as early as the 1960s.

Some of the old Lego imagery is beautiful in its simplicity. Here’s a selection of my favourites, alongside their contemporary counterparts.

Lego House: 1970 and 2011

Lego Police Headquarters: 1976 and 2011

Lego Fire Station: 1970 and 2011

Lego Aeroplane: 1974 and 2010

Lego Truck: 1967 and 2010

Someone could write a thesis on how Lego reflects changing trends in our society.

Last week I bought my daughter a Barbie doll from an op shop. I stood in the store with the Barbie in my hand and hesitated. Would this plastic doll be a bad influence on my daughter and contribute to negative body image later down the track? Then I thought…she’s a beautiful black doll with a groovy hairdo, and so ultimately the hair won the day. All she was wearing at the time was a $1 price tag on her stomach, so I decided that I would buy her an outfit. I imagined something along the lines of a tailored grey pant suit with some groovy Converse style sneakers or ballet flats.

Later in the week while I was getting some photos processed at Big W, I ducked over to the toy section and headed to the Barbie doll clothing. Perhaps I’m naïve, but I was shocked. Let me take a moment to describe the choices that were before me:

As far as I could see, there wasn’t a single item that a woman would wear to the shops, a picnic or let’s say, to work. I had Barbie when I was a girl and I don’t remember her being like this. Has Barbie fashion changed over the past 30 years or am I simply seeing her now with ‘mum’ eyes? I left the store with a naked doll and a grudge against Mattel.

Later in the week when I was doing some grocery shopping, I stumbled across a little find in the baby aisle, hidden amongst a small assortment of toys. A blue astronaut space suit from the Barbie I Can Be range. Yes, blue! And it even came with practical, flat space boots.

I was surprised to discover that when I dressed Barbie in her astronaut suit, she became irresistible to my 2½ year old son. Barbie was suddenly elevated to the dizzying heights of Buzz Lightyear. My son spent the afternoon in the backyard flying Barbie around chanting “To Infinity and Beyond”.